Copyright © OLIVIAWEST 2024/2025 ACADEMIC YEAR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
POSC 225 -- Exam 2 Martin Cohen Study
Guide with Complete Solutions
Edmund Burke (1740s) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- was a fan of political parties; positive
definition
- "men united, promoting by their joint endeavors the national interest, upon some particular principle
in which they are all agreed"
- promoting national interest; shows he is a fan of political parties
James Madison (1780s) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- not a fan of political parties
- "a faction, whether amounting to a majority or minority... united and actuated by some common
impulse... adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interest of the
community"
- United: similar to Burke, but different in the effects of a party
E.E. Schattschneider (1942) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- "...organized attempt to get
control of the government"
- Organized: introduced to lexicon
- Goal: to get control of the government
- was a fan of strong political parties, but his definition does not show this; his definition shows a mutual
attitude
Copyright ©Stuvia International BV 2010-2024 Page 1/26
, Copyright © OLIVIAWEST 2024/2025 ACADEMIC YEAR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Anthony Downs (1957) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- "... a coalition of men seeking to
control the governing apparatus by legal means"
- Coalition: group of individuals who have certain ends in common and cooperate to achieve those ends
- Coalition: new word to lexicon
V. O. Key (1964) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- conceived of parties as three legged stool...
"PIE, PIG, PO"
- shows three parts of political party
PIE - ANSWER✔✔-Party in the Electorate -- consists of voters and those who identify with a political
party, psychological attachment and will often vote for those party candidates
PIG - ANSWER✔✔-Party in Government -- government position holders (elected officials) who run under
party label and try to get policies passed for said party
PO - ANSWER✔✔-Party Organization -- consists of party workers, staff members, and committees; tries
to get the candidates elected from their party
John Aldrich (1996) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- "... an endogenous institution -- an
institution by these political actors... It is ambitious politicians' creation"
- elected officials create, and mutate parties in order to get re-elected
- decisions are made by the party in itself
Tom Schwartz (1996) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- "... a long coalition"
- long (over a series of issues and over a period of time)
Copyright ©Stuvia International BV 2010-2024 Page 2/26
, Copyright © OLIVIAWEST 2024/2025 ACADEMIC YEAR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
- party is not just an agreement to vote together on single bill, but an agreement to vote on hundreds of
bills together over long periods of time
Functions of a Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- aggregating societal interests
- compromising competing demands
- recruiting leadership
- nominating candidates
- contesting elections
- seeking to organize government
Aggregating Societal Interest - ANSWER✔✔-- adding up interests of individuals, putting them together
- they decide what they will talk about via agenda setting
- party platforms distributed to the nation every 4 years at national convention to nominate president
- platform: list of issue positions and decides what the party will stand for and how much emphasis each
issue will get
Compromising Competing Demands - ANSWER✔✔-- need to appeal to a majority on an issue to obtain
control of the government
- need to create coalitions (groups of groups) in order to win majorities, if they cast to narrow of a net on
one or two interests (third parties) they will not win
- this is how they differ from interest groups, because those groups focus solely on one specific issue
- Party Coalition between different parties
Copyright ©Stuvia International BV 2010-2024 Page 3/26
POSC 225 -- Exam 2 Martin Cohen Study
Guide with Complete Solutions
Edmund Burke (1740s) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- was a fan of political parties; positive
definition
- "men united, promoting by their joint endeavors the national interest, upon some particular principle
in which they are all agreed"
- promoting national interest; shows he is a fan of political parties
James Madison (1780s) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- not a fan of political parties
- "a faction, whether amounting to a majority or minority... united and actuated by some common
impulse... adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interest of the
community"
- United: similar to Burke, but different in the effects of a party
E.E. Schattschneider (1942) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- "...organized attempt to get
control of the government"
- Organized: introduced to lexicon
- Goal: to get control of the government
- was a fan of strong political parties, but his definition does not show this; his definition shows a mutual
attitude
Copyright ©Stuvia International BV 2010-2024 Page 1/26
, Copyright © OLIVIAWEST 2024/2025 ACADEMIC YEAR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Anthony Downs (1957) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- "... a coalition of men seeking to
control the governing apparatus by legal means"
- Coalition: group of individuals who have certain ends in common and cooperate to achieve those ends
- Coalition: new word to lexicon
V. O. Key (1964) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- conceived of parties as three legged stool...
"PIE, PIG, PO"
- shows three parts of political party
PIE - ANSWER✔✔-Party in the Electorate -- consists of voters and those who identify with a political
party, psychological attachment and will often vote for those party candidates
PIG - ANSWER✔✔-Party in Government -- government position holders (elected officials) who run under
party label and try to get policies passed for said party
PO - ANSWER✔✔-Party Organization -- consists of party workers, staff members, and committees; tries
to get the candidates elected from their party
John Aldrich (1996) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- "... an endogenous institution -- an
institution by these political actors... It is ambitious politicians' creation"
- elected officials create, and mutate parties in order to get re-elected
- decisions are made by the party in itself
Tom Schwartz (1996) Definition of Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- "... a long coalition"
- long (over a series of issues and over a period of time)
Copyright ©Stuvia International BV 2010-2024 Page 2/26
, Copyright © OLIVIAWEST 2024/2025 ACADEMIC YEAR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
- party is not just an agreement to vote together on single bill, but an agreement to vote on hundreds of
bills together over long periods of time
Functions of a Political Party - ANSWER✔✔-- aggregating societal interests
- compromising competing demands
- recruiting leadership
- nominating candidates
- contesting elections
- seeking to organize government
Aggregating Societal Interest - ANSWER✔✔-- adding up interests of individuals, putting them together
- they decide what they will talk about via agenda setting
- party platforms distributed to the nation every 4 years at national convention to nominate president
- platform: list of issue positions and decides what the party will stand for and how much emphasis each
issue will get
Compromising Competing Demands - ANSWER✔✔-- need to appeal to a majority on an issue to obtain
control of the government
- need to create coalitions (groups of groups) in order to win majorities, if they cast to narrow of a net on
one or two interests (third parties) they will not win
- this is how they differ from interest groups, because those groups focus solely on one specific issue
- Party Coalition between different parties
Copyright ©Stuvia International BV 2010-2024 Page 3/26
